Too Early
by Whouffle and Souffles
Summary: Clara and Danny are loving life together. They're living together, expecting a new baby, and things couldn't be more perfect. Except, of course, when things seem too perfect, things tend to go wrong... [Clara/Danny, Incomplete]
1. Chapter 1

Clara had her eyes closed and her head on Danny's lap, feet resting on the other end of the sofa. Her head was titling towards his chest, breathing in the scent of his cologne as her fingers played with the hem of his shirt. Danny's hands were rested atop her slightly bulging stomach as he looked down at her, admiring every contour of her face. Sometimes, he couldn't imagine his luck. Somehow, he had Clara, and they were going to have a beautiful family together. Everything was perfect. Even in that moment of silence and stillness, everything was perfect. They didn't need to speak to each other to know that they were both completely in love with each other in that moment.

"I've been thinking…" The first muffled words came from Clara, rolling away from his chest and sitting up to speak to him properly, curling her legs underneath herself as she looked over to him. "We need to start talking about what names we'd like." She said, placing her hands on her abdomen and gently tracing her fingers in circles over her skin.

"Love, we've got another three months to think." He reminded her, watching her with a smile on his face. "But go on then, if you've been thinking, I imagine you have one or two names in mind. Just nothing _too _alien. And _not _Doctor." He said, causing Clara to laugh softly as she lay herself back down again.

"Alright, well, I was thinking Ellie would be a nice middle name. Y'know, if we have a girl. I mean, we don't have to, but I want to. For mum." She said softly, waiting for Danny's reaction. He seemed happy, so she continued. "I don't have any first names yet; I want to think of those together." Clara suggested gently. "I mean, if we need to, we could buy one of the baby name books, but I don't think they feel right, I want us to think of the name ourselves." Danny smiled and nodded down at her.

"I think that's a lovely idea. How about I go make you some tea and we can talk about it?" He suggested, gently moving her head from where it rested on his lap and putting a cushion for Clara to rest on instead. As he walked past, he felt Clara's hand playfully slapping his bum and giggling to herself. Danny turned around and smiled at her, winking before he disappeared into the kitchen. Clara closed her eyes and curled up a little on the sofa, smiling and taking a deep breath as she made herself comfortable, listening to the sound of the kettle being switched on and the clinking of mugs.

Danny took a pair of tea bags, putting them into the mugs and leaning back against the counter to watch the kettle and wait for it to boil. He looked around, spotting the boxes of things they'd bought for their child, not yet unpacked. The highchair half constructed in the corner, with the instructions strewn aside in frustration. It made him chuckle gently; remembering how annoyed the pair of them got as they tried to put it all together. She was 28 weeks now, so neither were particularly concerned about it being built immediately, but the sooner it got done, the less they'd have to do when she was too pregnant to help. He knew Clara wanted to be a part of things, so he was trying to let her do everything she could.

As the kettle boiled, he heard a gasp coming from the living room. He presumed it was simply Clara jumping at the flick of the switch, so he shrugged it off. Danny poured the hot water into both mugs, before getting the milk from the fridge and pouring it into his. He grabbed a half-eaten pack of digestive biscuits, before he heard a call coming from the other room. It sounded a little desperate, but he guessed it was just her hormones kicking in.

"I'll be a minute love." He assured her. "You'll complain about the tea being too weak if I come in any faster." Danny chuckled to himself, adding two teaspoons of sugar to Clara's tea, before stirring the tea around in both mugs. He removed the teabags swiftly, before clamping the pack of digestives between his teeth by the empty half of the wrapper, and picking up both of the mugs. As Danny went into the living room, he heard a cry. Suddenly, he stopped brushing things off, and sped up a little. Clara was still lying down, so Danny put everything down before going to her side. Her hands were tightly clamped to her bump, so he had to prise them away forcefully to hold comfortingly. Now he was closer to her, he could see that she was in pain and crying. Worriedly, Danny tried talking to her.

"Clara, Clara, what's wrong?" He asked urgently, moving one hand to caress her cheek in an attempt to calm her down. "Love, deep breaths, c'mon, what's wrong? What's hurting?" He said, panic in his voice. Danny didn't know what had happened, or what he could do to help, so he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started calling for an ambulance, not taking any risks. Looking down her body for any sign of broken waters, he found something far more terrifying for both him and Clara. He wasn't sure if she'd seen yet, so he stood up and tried to leave the room. Clara's hands tightly gripped his, fighting to keep him with her. She was in complete and utter agony, with no idea what was happening or why she hurt so much, she didn't want Danny to leave her, not like this. She screamed for him to return, calling his name painfully and shakily as he closed the door to the kitchen behind him, speaking a clearly as he could on the phone.

"My girlfriend, she's pregnant, she's only 28 weeks a-and something's happened. There's blood, and she's in so much pain. She was clutching her abdomen. We need an ambulance, please, please. I love her, I don't want her to be hurt, and our baby needs help, please." He said, feeling himself start to sob too. Giving them their address, he hung up and ran straight back to Clara, still screaming for him. Danny didn't know what to do. He wanted to pull her close and tell her everything was going to be okay, but it might hurt her. He was afraid to do anything in case he did anything else to hurt her or the baby. All he could do was sit tight and hold her hand, watching her in pain and praying she'd be okay.


	2. Chapter 2

Clara's breathing was heavy and laboured, her sobs barely heard by Danny as he clung to her in terror. It was hard to stay calm, seeing her in so much pain and so scared, but there was nothing else he could do. He had to stay strong for her, to hold her hand and tell her she was okay, to keep breathing, that the ambulance would be there soon. And as soon as it was there, he knew who Clara would want more than anyone. He'd have to call her father, let him know what was going on and see if he could get to the hospital. Clara would need all the support she could get, and Danny was sure her father would be able to help so much more than him.

Danny felt Clara's nails dig deeper into his skin as she screamed in pain, looking up at him in panic.

"Danny-!" She managed to cry out, managing to breathe more steadily for a few short moments. "What the hell is happening to me?" Clara asked, her hand weakly tugging him closer. Danny help, kneeling down as close to her as he could and using his free hand to caress her cheek. He wanted to be in as much contact with her as possible, wanting her to know that he was there and he wasn't going anywhere. But he didn't know how to answer. So all he did was hold her in the same position, gently humming a soothing lullaby to his wife and their baby. All of a sudden, his mind was taken back to their unborn child. He knew he should be worrying about Clara, but he could see that however much pain she was in, she was alive. He had no way of telling what condition their child was in, if they were even alive. The thought of that alone began to eat him from the inside and he began to feel sick with worry for the both of them. Clara and their child could be dying for all he knew, and he could do nothing but sit back and watch.

He was torn from his worry at the noise of a siren piercing the air, and his heart leapt. Never had the sound of an ambulance been so welcome, people who knew what they were doing, how to help her and how to get her and their child to safety. Taking a deep breath, Danny pressed a soft kiss to Clara's forehead, covered with a sheen of sweat from her fear.

"You're going to be alright." He promised, knowing that now the ambulance was here, he could keep that promise. Even if he didn't know how she felt.

She barely believed his words; her stomach felt like it was ripping in two, and every part of her body was shaking and aching in pain. She just wanted it all to stop, for everything to be okay. She wanted her dad, and her mum, she wanted to know her baby was okay. Of course Danny being there was nice, and she knew that was as much as she was going to get, but it wasn't enough. She needed more comfort and more help; he couldn't do this on his own. Clara felt his touch leaving her, and she started to whimper more in his absence, before she let out another pained scream, someone picking her up and moving her. Complete agony overtook her body, and there was nothing she could do but point out how much everything hurt by screaming with all the breath she had in her lungs.

The next thing Clara felt other than excruciating pain was a plastic mask being put over her face. Breathing suddenly became far easier, and even though she still hurt, she felt safer.

Danny watched helplessly as Clara was helped into the ambulance, before jumping in with her. One hand held hers gently, seeing how she was much more peaceful now with the mask on. Whether it seemed to soothe her, or it was simply blocking out the noise, he didn't know, but it gave him chance to get a message out to Dave. He knew that the fact he was texting wasn't going to help, but he didn't think he could handle a phone call. After all, he didn't know what he could tell Dave other than that Clara was in pain and they were going to the hospital, and that he had to come as soon as possible. It felt like he was doing something wrong, simply sending a message, but everything he was doing felt wrong. He thought he should be able to help Clara feel better, that he had already failed as a father, being unable to protect their child. But there he was, holding her hand and watching the paramedic's frantically working around her as they sped along.

Everything seemed to pass Danny by, completely lost in his thoughts, and before he knew it, they were at the hospital. Clara was rushed out to the emergency room, and Danny was left to make his own way to the waiting room and slump into a purple chair, discoloured from years of use, with the fabric torn in more than one place. It was the worst place he could imagine being in that moment, separated from Clara, and seeing other people going through almost anything and everything else. And of course, the worst thing that could have happened did.

Dave Oswald ran into the room, looking around with fear in his eyes until he spotted Danny staring at the wall opposite miserably. It didn't fill Dave with confidence about his daughter's condition, and his grandchild. Quickly moving to sit next to Danny, he looked over at him with pleading eyes, before he spoke softly.

"Danny, what's going on?" He asked. Even though he was quiet, his fear and desperation was evident. Danny managed to tear his gaze away from the floor, but couldn't look the man in the eye. This was Clara's father, and he felt like this was all his fault. Now he had to explain to him.

"I don't know." Danny admitted honestly. "She was fine a couple of hours ago, we were talking about names, I went to make some tea, came back and she's bleeding and screaming." He said, taking a deep breath. He'd had time alone and he'd already cried more than he thought he ought to, so now he had to let Dave digest the information he'd been given and let him come to terms with the fact that, for all they knew, they were going to lose Clara and the child. "They've taken her for an emergency caesarean. Whatever's wrong with her, they think the baby's in danger too." This sentence was emotionless, as if Danny had accepted that he wasn't going to be a father, it was too early, even he knew that. He swallowed back his tears and finally looked up at Dave, the man seemingly as sick with worry as he was. "I'm sorry, I'm… I'm so sorry." He found himself saying to Dave, shaking his head and putting his hands over his face in fear.

It was then, the old lights flickering in the corridor, that a woman in scrubs made her way into the waiting room, before calling out.

"Clara Oswald?" The woman asked, looking around. "Anyone waiting for a Clara Oswald?"

Dave and Danny practically leapt to their feet, both running up to the woman in desperation. They were both terrified about what she was going to say, but they had to know.

**AN** Hi guys, hope you're enjoying this, even if it is a bit dark. Anyway, if you like it (and have any suggestions) please leave a review! Hope to write again soon.


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